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This invention generally relates to the field of telephony services and more particularly to the field of telephony speech recognition services and telephony speech services synthesis over a communications network.
The use of telephone over PSTN (public switch telephone network) continues to grow at a tremendous rate. Recently, the use of the Internet and voice over IP has been gaining popularity as well.
The use of the telephone although easy for most people can be problematic for individuals with diminished hearing or speech capabilities. It is common for individuals who have diminished hearing or speech capabilities to feel discouraged when having to use the telephone. Special devices to improve the quality of participation for speech impaired individuals in a telephony conversation are widely available. One example of a device is a simple amplifier for amplifying the volume of the receiver""s handset. This solution works well for many hearing impaired individuals; however, the use of a simple amplifier will not work for many other impaired individuals.
A system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,433, with inventors Yashchin, et al., entitled xe2x80x9cSpeech synthesis method for operator assistance telecommunications calls comprising a plurality of text-to-speech (TTS) devicesxe2x80x9d describes a method and apparatus for providing automated operator services and in particular, a reverse directory assistance service. A calling customer is connected to an automated system that prompts the caller for a listing identifier which is used by the system to retrieve a textual listing corresponding to the listing identifier from a database of textual listings. The textual listing contains a TTS ID, which identifies a particular one TTS device from a plurality of TTS devices and the listing is optionally preprocessed and parsed into a plurality of fields that define the listing. The listing text is then sent to the particular one TTS device for text to speech synthesis of the text contained within the listing. The method further includes teaching the system which one TTS device of the plurality of TTS devices, best synthesizes the text contained within the listing and then identifying that one TTS device within the listing so that subsequent synthesis will utilize that TTS device.
Another system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,877, with inventors Eric. A. Dorsey et al., entitled xe2x80x9cVerbal computer terminal systemxe2x80x9d for a telephonic data communications system provides verbal communication of data in remote computer systems. The major components of the systems are a plurality of channels and a data processor. Each channel includes a text-to-speech translator for translating digitally stored textual data into analogue speech signals corresponding to the verbal expression of the textual data; a telephone interface for establishing a telephonic connection with a caller; and an RS232 port for accessing a data base in a remote host computer system. The data processor includes software for controlling the communications protocols used by each channel, whereby each channel emulates a computer terminal suitable for communication with the remote computer system connected to that channel, and software for extracting selected data from the data received from the remote computer system. This system enables one to telephonically receive data from a remote computer without the need for a computer terminal and without needing to reprogram the remote computer to communicate with the telephonic data communication system.
Yet another system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,806, with inventors Peter Lee et al., entitled xe2x80x9cTelecommunications device for the hearing impaired with telephone, text communication and answering, and automated voice carryoverxe2x80x9d for a telecommunication device for the hearing impaired having the capability of sending text communications via a telephone-style keypad and receiving text communications for display on an LCD display in addition to providing standard telephone voice communications. The telecommunications device automates voice carryover (VCO) calls and provides automatic answering and recording capability for text messages on the same telephone line as a voice answering machine and or a facsimile machine. The telecommunications device further includes means for selectively adjusting the amplification of received voice messages and sent voice messages to provide maximum amplification of said received voice messages without producing feedback oscillation or to provide maximum amplification of sent voice messages without producing feedback oscillation. The telecommunications device further including means for minimizing effect of the reflected impedance of the telephone line on signal transmission and optimizing the coupling of signals to the telephone line.
All these systems, although useful, are not without their shortcomings. To begin, all of these systems require that the user buy custom equipment, such as Teletype terminals and other specialty terminal devices. The expense of the required end-user telecommunication devices could be prohibitive. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus to provide individuals, who have diminished hearing or speech capabilities, with the ability to communicate, via telephone, without the need to purchase specialty terminal devices.
In other words, currently, telephony voice assistance devices require specialized hardware and software at the end user""s location, restricting user access to that particular location. Moreover, provisions for customizing voice assistance resources in standalone environments are normally not provided, and the standard synthesized voice model used to speak text is unable to express gender, accenting, or modify the rate at which text is spoken. The user is left with an inflexible, costly, restrictive facility that requires maintenance and replacement.
Another shortcoming with system available today is the lack of Internet support. The convergence of telephone over the Internet in telephony IP continues to grow. The use of Web-based services continues to grow such as those available by DialPad.com. Moreover, many of the web-based services are lower cost or even free to consumers. However, none of these new services address the needs for individuals who have diminished hearing or speech capabilities over the Internet. Accordingly, a need exists to provide services to overcome the aforementioned problems.
With recent advancements in computing and telephony technology, there is a new method for individuals who are hearing or speech impaired to participate in telephony conversations. Devices for speech and hearing impaired individuals to communicate via the telephone do exist; however, they do not utilize a Central Office service. This invention provides that service. Using a computer and subscribing to a Central Office (CO) service, hearing or speech impaired individuals can allocate and use Central Office Text-To-Speech (TTS) and Speech Recognition (SRECO) resources to communicate, on their behalf.
Accordingly, there is provided a system and method for individuals who are hearing or speech impaired to participate in telephony conversations. The major components of the system include a text-to-speech (TTS) translator, a speech recognition server (SRECO), a telephonic interface, a Central Office, a Voice Response Unit (VRU), a Subscriber Database (VASDB), a data base access interface, a Client Application (ClientApp), a Web Server interface, and an ISCP (Integrated Service Control Point) of an AIN (Advanced Intelligent Network) for controlling and coordinating the other parts.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for communications in a network that includes a Central Office and an Advance Intelligent Network system, wherein the Central Office is coupled to a plurality of user units is disclosed. The method on the Advance Intelligent Network system comprising the steps of: receiving a communication session request from a first party using a first user unit; and determining if the first party is speech impaired, and if the first party is speech impaired, then performing the sub-steps of: prompting the first party for text input; receiving the text input from the first party; converting the text input, using a Text-to-Speech resource, to an audio output; and sending the audio output to a second party.